Term Limits and Their Many Theories

Term limits were first introduced to the public as a fix for politicians that had become too far removed from constituents. While term limits were a popular subject well into the early 2000s, the research on term limits has declined. Regardless of the state in question or the time of the proposal, term limits remain a popular policy among the public and their merits will continue to be debated for another 20 years. Term limits were pushed as a solution to the careerism caused by professionalization, but their lasting effects are largely unknown. In “Navigating Term Limits,” Butcher explores the long-term effects of term limits on legislative careers.

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Notes

A member’s race is often difficult to confirm in the context of historical data and not wanting to mislabel someone, while there are hopes of updating this information in the future it is worth noting that there is missing data here, primarily for Florida, Maine, and Ohio.

Lower: Speaker, Speaker Pro Tem, Majority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Assistant Minority Leader, and Majority/Minority Whips; Upper: President/President Pro Tem, Majority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Assistant Minority Leader, and Majority/Minority Whips.

Given that members sometimes serve in multiple leadership positions during their service, there is the possibility of repeat individuals.

A list of the committees and states used in this additional analysis can be found in Table B.5 in Appendix B.

Nebraska has a slightly different format because they do not have party leaders and there is only one chamber.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Political Science, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, USA Jordan Butcher

1. Jordan Butcher